Report: Engineering Materials for a Sustainable Future
Materials influence nearly every aspect of our daily lives. While progress continues in many sectors of materials research, the accelerating rate of climate change and depletion of finite resources mandates a renewed urgency to create more options for sustainable materials in construction, chemicals, and packaging. Engineering plays a critical role at all stages of sustainable materials development, bringing focus to specific areas of research need that could generate essential innovation necessary for the United States to create a more sustainable materials environment:
Research into the following three overarching areas should generate rapid, sustained innovation that enables the United States to lead in sustainable materials development:
- Design: Developing new materials and methods for their production
- Scale-up and manufacturing: Increasing production to meet demand while maintaining the sustainability of the materials
- End-of-use and reuse: Improving the handling and disposal of materials after they are used in a way that minimizes waste while maximizing value
Multidisciplinary engineering researchers can speed the transition to employing more sustainable materials and processes throughout the nation’s economy. Creating a long-term roadmap of innovative, less-explored lines of research that can transform all phases of materials’ lifespan was the goal of the 55 researchers, industry leaders, policymakers, and investors at the July 25-26, 2023 visioning event convened by ERVA. This report illuminates the engineering priorities identified during this event, and aims to inspire researchers and funders (public, private, and nonprofit) to support and pursue them.
